Rafael Tolói (born 10 October 1990) is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for the Italy national team. Tolói represented his native country of Brazil internationally at the under-20 level in 2009, but switched allegiance at the senior grade to Italy in 2021 after meeting

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

's five-year residency

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. He had been living in Italy since his move to Atalanta early in the 2015–16 season, and had years earlier acquired

Italian citizenship The primary law governing nationality of Italy is Law 91/1992, which came into force on 16 August 1992. Italy is a member state of the European Union (EU), and all Italian nationals are EU citizens. They are entitled to free movement rights ...

, for which he was eligible because his great-grandparents hailed from

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

. He made his senior debut for Italy in 2021, and represented the nation at their victorious

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

campaign.

Club career

Goiás

Born in

Glória d'Oeste Glória d'Oeste is a municipality in the state of Mato Grosso in the Central-West Region of Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Mato Grosso This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Mato Grosso (MT), located in the Central- ...

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...

, he started playing for

Goiás Esporte Clube Goiás Esporte Clube is a Brazilian sports club, best known for its association football team, located in the city of Goiânia, capital city of the Brazilian state of Goiás. Goiás has won Brazilian's second tier Série B twice, in 1999 an ...

in 2008, and helped his club win the

Campeonato Goiano The Campeonato Goiano is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders th ...

in 2009. Tolói played 17 Série B games for Goiás and scored two goals. He reached the

2010 Copa Sudamericana The 2010 Copa Sudamericana de Clubes (officially the 2010 Copa Nissan Sudamericana de Clubes for sponsorship reasons) was the 9th edition of CONMEBOL's secondary international club tournament. The winner qualified for the 2011 Copa Libertadores, t ...

finals with the green team.

São Paulo

On 5 July 2012,

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

confirmed Tolói in their squad, with the defender signing a five-year contract. He scored his first goal for São Paulo on 25 July 2012 in a match against

Atlético Goianiense Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

. On 3 August 2013, Tolói scored the goal that confirmed the title of

Eusébio Cup The Eusébio Cup is a pre-season friendly Association football, football match hosted by Portuguese club S.L. Benfica since 2008. It has been played mostly at their home stadium, Estádio da Luz, with the two exceptions being the 2015 and 2018 ...

for São Paulo FC, in a 2–0 victory against

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

Loan to Roma

On 31 January 2014, Tolói was loaned to

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

side

AS Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: Help:IPA/Italian, ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier ...

for the remainder of the 2013–14 season for a fee of €500,000. The move was agreed with an option to buy for a total value of €5.5 million. He made his debut for the Giallorossi in their 2–1 win against

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

on 25 March 2014, playing the full 90 minutes in place of the suspended

Medhi Benatia Medhi Amine El Mouttaqi BenatiaThough the traditional Arabic spelling is "Mehdi", he spells his name "Medhi". See, for examplehis Twitter account Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

for a €3.5 million transfer fee. He made his debut on 13 September, in a 2–2

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draw at

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town is best known for being the centre of the Ita ...

, replacing Gianpaolo Bellini in the 80th minute. In his second match, eleven days later, he started and scored the sole goal, settling a 1–0 league win at

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

. On 22 February 2018, Tolói scored for the first time in a

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

competition, against

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

in the Europa League round of 32. The match ended in a 1–1 draw, which was not enough to see Atalanta through the next round, as the club had succumbed to a 3–2 defeat in the first leg. Tolói became Atalanta's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

during the 2020–21 season, following the departure of his predecessor

Papu Gómez Alejandro Darío Gómez (; born 15 February 1988), known as Papu Gómez, is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward, Winger (association football), left winger or attacking ...

from the club. On 1 March 2022, Tolói signed a contract extension at Atalanta, keeping him at the club through 2024 with an option to extend the deal until 2026. On 22 May 2024, Tolói made a late substitute appearance in Atalanta's 3–0 victory over

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

in the 2024 Europa League final at the Dublin Arena.

International career

Tolói represented Brazil at the under-20 level, winning the South American Championship and placing second in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

in 2009. Having satisfied its eligibility rules by possessing Italian citizenship, residing in Italy for five years, and never representing Brazil at the senior level, FIFA approved Tolói's switch of international allegiance to Italy on 17 February 2021. He was subsequently named to the Italian squad by manager

Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of the Saudi Arabia national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for h ...

on March 19, 2021, and made his debut on the 31st in the

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FIFA World Cup qualifier against

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, playing the entire match in a 2–0 away victory. On 1 June 2021, Tolói was named by manager

in the 26-man Italy squad for the

. In Italy's second group match on 16 June, he made his first appearance of the tournament, coming on as a second-half substitute for

Domenico Berardi Domenico Berardi (; born 1 August 1994) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward or right winger for club Sassuolo and the Italy national team. Berardi began his club career with Sassuolo in 2012, helping the team win th ...

, and setting up

Ciro Immobile Ciro Immobile (born 20 February 1990) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Süper Lig club Beşiktaş J.K., Beşiktaş. He is regarded as one of the best strikers in his generation. Im ...

's goal in a 3–0 win over

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, which allowed Italy to advance to the round of 16. On 11 July, Tolói won the European Championship with Italy following a 3–2

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

victory over

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Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

in the

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, after a 1–1 draw in

extra-time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

Style of play

Tolói is a physically strong defender, who is mainly known for his anticipation. Although usually a centre-back, he is also capable of playing as a right-back, and is known for his ability to contribute offensively as well as defensively.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Goiás *

: 2009, 2012 São Paulo *

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Atalanta *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

: 2023–24 Italy *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Orders :*

5th Class / Knight: ''

Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic () is the most senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking honour of the Republic, it is awarded for ...

'': 2021

References

External links

Rafael Tolói
at the Atalanta B.C. website * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tolói, Rafael 1990 births Living people Footballers from Mato Grosso Brazilian people of Italian descent Italian people of Brazilian descent Brazilian men's footballers Brazil men's under-20 international footballers Italian men's footballers Italy men's international footballers Naturalised citizens of Italy Naturalised association football players Men's association football central defenders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Goiás Esporte Clube players São Paulo FC players Copa Sudamericana–winning players Serie A players AS Roma players Atalanta BC players UEFA Euro 2020 players UEFA European Championship–winning players European champions for Italy UEFA Europa League–winning players Knights of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic 21st-century Italian sportsmen 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen